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He has tanned skin and his hair is spiky, short and has the color dark brown. He has black eyes with white pupils. He has said to be handsome in scans of Galaxy. He wears the Inazuma Japan soccer uniform.

After his Dark Side was activated, three spikes of his hair turned to a dark blue highlight.

Matatagi is shown to be hard working, as seen in episode two, where he is still training after everyone else had taken a break. He can also be secretive, as he has his own ambitions for being in the FFIV2 tournament other than winning it. Matatagi is also seen to have a second 'dark' side to him, which is usually when he starts to talk to himself in a mysterious manner that was shown on the start of the series. However, he cares a lot for his two younger brothers, Yuuta and Shun and is very protective of them. When he was accused of stealing by Manabe, he didn't care as long as he can make his younger brothers happy.

In the more recent episodes of the series, he is seen to be more friendly and willing to his teammates, like how he was one of the people who attempted to look for Konoha in episode 11. However, he has still shown this 'dark side' in other episodes, implying that he still feels wary about his teammates.

After his Dark Side was activated in episode 26, his personality becomes very arrogant and rude, shown when he told the other Earth players to bring out their best play during training, scaring the other players a bit. He also plays fairly aggressive. His new personality is a big contrary compared to his former's.

The reason why Matatagi entered the FFIV2, was because he wants to earn the money to live with his family in a big house.

Revealed in episode 25, back to the time when Shun was born, his father left his family and his mother was ill. Therefore, young Matatagi had to take care of his two younger brothers. When one of his friends invited him to a gathering, he refused because he had to take care of his brothers, but his friend said that he could bring his brothers to the gathering. After gaining approval from his brothers, Matatagi asked his friend again but he told him that he shouldn't go because he didn't have a race car like his other friends. Later when Matatagi was wandering in a shopping street, he found a raffle and won the lucky draw, and he chose the race car as his prize, which he showed his friends the race car at the gathering. However, when his friends found race cars that were fancier than his, he felt like his friends didn't really care about him nor consider him a friend. He threw the race car into the sea and told himself that there weren't such thing as "friend" and humans couldn't trust nor depend on others.

Some time later, his two younger brothers were too hungry so they couldn't help but stole the food. Matatagi then took the blame to protect the two of them from being treated badly. This incident made no one trusting Matatagi anymore and this also the reason why he couldn't trust anyone.

Matatagi Hayato appeared in the first episode, being selected by Kuroiwa Ryuusei to be a member and forward for Japan's national soccer team, Inazuma Japan. Inazuma Japan played an exhibition match against Teikoku Gakuen. Hayato was shown to be very quick, catching up to a member of Teikoku Gakuen and surpassing Tenma. However, he just stood in front of the opponent, which led to him running off again. Shinsei Inazuma Japan lost with a devastating score of 10-1, in which Teikoku Gakuen's captain, Mikado Haruma, stated that they were the worst team ever.

In episode 2, he was training with the other members of Inazuma Japan. During the training Tenma complimeted him and said that his speed could be useful to make his hissastu and left. Matatagi dark side was shown for the first time and thinking that a person like Tenma couldn't be trusted. The next day, he was shown to be improved and later, his two younger brothers, Yuuta and Shun came to visit him.

On the day of the match between Fire Dragon, he was accused of stealing by Manabe until Tenma stopped the argument. However, Manabe then revealed that the 8 members of Inazuma Japan are getting paid to play the match. Matatagi then told Tenma that he joined Inazuma Japan to earn money to buy a big house for his family to live in. When the match started, he was the first one got the ball but didn't pass back to Tsurugi and got stolen easily.

In episode 3, he noticed that Tenma, Tsurugi and Shindou planning on playing the match with only three of them. He then asked them to let him join them which they agreed. However, most of the team started on not passing the ball to him because they still suspected him of stealing and Manabe ordered them to pass to the other one. During half-time, he told Tenma about his past. In second-half, no one passed the ball to him. However, thanks to Tenma's encouraging words and seeing Matatagi's desperation, they decided to trust him as it shown when he passed the ball from Tetsukado. He then received the ball from Manabe but got chased by Lee Chunyun to steal the ball back but Matatagi managed to run fast than him and passed the ball to Tenma who made a goal with God Wind. When the match ended with Inazuma Japan's winning, he commented that Tenma is so simple.

In episode 4, he and Sakura were the only one who participate the training. He was shown practicing dribble while passing through the cones to improve himself.

In episode 5, Matatagi watched the rest of the newbies, apart from Ibuki, take the Inazuma Japan Withdrawal Test, which was considered by Kuroiwa Ryuusei. He and Ibuki both had their reasons for not taking the test. Matatagi's was mainly because he wants to make his brothers proud of him and because he doesn't want to leave, as he wants to earn the money to buy his family a big house for them to live in. Everyone who took the test seemed to fail, just as Ryuusei suspected they would.

In episode 6, Matatagi and the rest of the team played against Big Waves. Tsurugi managed to score the first goal of the match with his new hissatsu Bicycle Sword. But Big Waves wouldn't let Inazuma Japan get past their defense with their hissatsu tactics Suck Out, which Hayato was one of the victims to get caught in. Big Waves' captain Cole LaRuze scored twice with his shoot hissatsu Megalodon, making the score 2-1 to Big Waves. Throughout the match Nozaki Sakura ruined all the chances Inazuma Japan had by playing solo and not passing. The episode ended with Big Waves in the lead, leaving Inazuma Japan in struggle.

In episode 8, there was no training and he went back to his house to see his younger brothers. When he came, his younger brother, Shun was injured and he told Matatagi that he got punched by his friend, Kenta because Shun he got angry at Shun for hiding his toy. Then, Matatagi reminded Shun that he shouldn't let people find out whenever he does something. Later, he and the other members assembled together at Odaiba Soccer Garden when Tenma came because they all heard that Kusaka got arrested by the polices as Minaho and Manabe told them about Kuska's background. The next day, he and Inazuma Japan faced their next opponent, Shamshir.

In episode 9, the first-half ended with Shamshir lead 1-0. He and the others also agreed with Shindou's plan of removing Kusaka in second-half but thanks to Tenma's convinced, they somehow agreed. When second-half started, same as the others, he didn't pass the ball to Kusaka to prevent him from getting into rampaged again. However, thanks to Kusaka got into his Berserker Mode and finally be able to control it, he passed the ball to Matatagi and he scored with Parkour Attack which gave Shinsei Inazuma Japan the first goal. Then, Inazuma Japan won thanks to Kusaka and Tsurugi who scored the second and third goal with Bicycle Sword and Kyoubou Head.

In episode 10, he and Inazuma Japan were training at the Black Room for the past three days. He and most of the team agreed on winning FFIV2 even though they don't have to except for Manabe, Minaho and Konoha. Later, Aoi came and told them that their next opponent is Thailand's representative, Mach Tiger who won the match against Desert Lion to 5-0. Then, he noticed that Manabe and Minaho still fighting when Manabe left. Then, his 'dark side' appeared again and saying strangers can never understand each other so just get along well on the surface. No one heard what he just said except for Minaho.

In episode 11, he and Tetsukado were the only one who joined Tenma, Kusaka and Aoi go searching for Konoha when heard that she left but no luck.

In episode 13, he grew anxious and worried due to Mach Tiger's tricky play, but was consoled by Tsurugi. He was shown to be impressed by Manabe's block hissatsu, Defense Houteishiki. He later received a pass from Minaho and passed it to Tsurugi who tied the score with Bicycle Sword. He listened to Minaho's command and was told that Sarit Charat was going to charge at him, and he passed the ball to Shindou.

In episode 14, while Minaho and Manabe were looking at the data of Storm Wolf, he came in and Manabe asked if he wanted to take a look at the data, to which he replied in an sarcastic manner that it was their job. Minaho grew more curious about him at that point and followed him out. He told Matatagi that he noticed a "darkness" in his heart when he heard his comment about Manabe and Minaho having an argument. Matatagi asked darkly, that what would he do about it, and Manabe came and interrupted their conversation. Minaho then commented that his personality is depthless. Later he played alongside his teammates against Resistance Japan, and he was shown to be a bit infuriated by their play and Namikawa's comment about him. After the practice match, his teammates and him all became motivated to train harder, however leaving Tenma wondering what was lacking in the team.

In episode 15, he also trained in the Black Room, most of the time he trained in one involving dodging snowballs. Later when Tenma and Aoi returned to the training centre, they saw his younger brothers Yuuta and Shun walking out and asked if they will cheer for them in the finals. The brothers however refused, saying that their elder brother told them that they were unlikely to win, but still agreed to come. Tenma and Aoi dismissed the thought, thinking that Matatagi is unlikely to say such things.

In episode 16, he, like the others, also dribbled up the field alone, and was also blocked by Rolling Cutter. When Kusaka and Sakura both told him to pass the ball, he was confused who to pass and was blocked by Dmitri Sobirov. When the team saw that Shindou was actually telling Ibuki to learn the importance of teamwork, they understood their mistakes, with the lone exception of Matatagi, who thought that they couldn't understand the pain of being betrayed. However, he also cooperated with the others.

In episode 17, he also failed to block the Storm Wolf players due to their different movements. While all others became frustrated, he added that they couldn't even touch the ball yet. While Tenma encouraged the others, saying that this could be their last match, Matatagi stated it is still good enough because they have fulfilled the contracts, but he was snapped by Kusaka, who opposed his idea. Later everyone became determined to win, he remained silent with a small smirk.

After listening to the duo's strategy, he passed the ball back to Minaho, allowing the chain of "two scores at once" to activate. He was also shocked to see Konoha unleashing some aura of Soul. After receiving a pass from Tenma, he scored the winning goal with Parkour Attack. He was shocked to see the spaceship and the Storm Wolf players revealed to be aliens.

In Episode 18, he expressed anger towards Bitway Ozrock, and demanded him what he did to Shun and Yuuta, but Bitway said that he only put the audience to sleep. He, like the whole team, was also shocked to hear the truth about FFIV2.